Translation commentary on Luke 1:39

Exegesis:

anastasa lit. ‘having risen.’

anistēmi transitive ‘to raise,’ intransitive (with middle forms) ‘to rise,’ often used with weakened basic meaning to indicate the beginning of an action (usually a motion); the verb is especially common of the preparation of a journey as here (cf. 15.18, 20; 17.19).

en tais hēmerais tautais lit. ‘in these days,’ goes with the whole clause. Its meaning is of a very general nature, cf. e.g. New English Bible, ‘about this time,’ but it refers usually to a somewhat shorter period than en tais hēmerais ekeinais (cf. 2.1; 9.36).

eis tēn oreinēn scil. chōran ‘to the hill country,’ of Judea, as v. 65 shows, possibly an echo of the Hebrew ha-har as an indication of the mountainous part of the area of Judah (cf. e.g. Jos. 9.1).

meta spoudēs ‘with haste,’ qualifies eporeuthē; several translators render both words in one expression as e.g. “hurried off” (Phillips, An American Translation).

eis polin Iouda ‘to a town of Judah,’ the territory occupied by the tribe of Judah in the time before the Exile. In the New Testament in this meaning only here and Mt. 2.6 in a quotation from the Old Testament; here it refers to the same area as that meant in v. 65.

Translation:

Arose, or, “set out” (New English Bible, similarly in Sranan Tongo, lit. ‘took path,’ and in Bahasa Indonesia, Tboli), ‘having started-off’ (Navajo), ‘got ready’ (Javanese).

Went … into the hill country, to a city of Judah, or in one phrase, mentioning the more specific first, cf. “went … to a town in the uplands of Judah” (New English Bible). Went, or, ‘journeyed’; distance, and the details such as descending or ascending, may influence the term to be chosen, cf. on 2.4. The hill country here comes near to a proper name, cf. ‘the High-lands’ in Scots. Some versions simply say, ‘the hills/mountains,’ as in Hebrew. For hill cf. also on 3.5.

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

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